A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Sunday, February 08, 2015

A Place for Expatriate Ultra-Orthodox Jews

Allison Josephs shooting a video for her 'Jew in the City' blog. (Forward)

When one hears about an organization known as Footsteps, all
kinds of images pop up depending upon what your perspective is. If you are Ultra-Orthodox,
chances are you see them as an antireligious organization that helps Ultra Orthodox
Jews leave Orthodoxy and lead secular lives (popularly referred to as going OTD
- off the Derech). If you are someone
who is already OTD you see it as a way to help you adjust in your new secular environment

(For purposes of this essay, I am defining ultra-Orthodoxy
as those of its segments that live completely insular lives. Which entails a
great many restrictions that are designed to protect them from the evils of the
outside world. A community like New Square would be an example of that. But it
is not limited to New Square or even to Chassidus. There are non Chasidic communities
that are almost as insular with almost as many restrictions.)

My understanding of Footsteps is that they have no religious
– or anti-religious agenda. They are a secular group that helps those that have
already gone OTD - adjust. That is their agenda as I understand it. They do not
try to make you irreligious in any way. I
therefore do not see them as evil. They are secular and want to help.

That said, I lament the fact that there is no place for an ultra-Orthodox Jew
to go if he simply wants out of his restrictive insular environment. Now I have
no quarrel with those who prefer an ideology that is insular and ultra-strict. As
long as they are not a financial burden on the rest of society, do not break
any laws, and members of their community are happy living that way, it is certainly their right. As much
as I could not live that way - they do nothing wrong.

But what about those in that community that do not want to live
that way? Often there are some people that cannot live that way and yet they feel
forced to. Furthermore they are indoctrinated to believe that the way they live
their lives is the only legitimate expression of God’s will. So that if for
example a Skverer Chasid even reads a secular newspaper it is considered a fundamental breach of Jewish behavior. There is little if any attempt to
differentiate between Chumra and Halacha.

As such it is quite understandable when an individual from
this community goes completely OTD. Buying a computer and going online is seen in
such negative terms that it is almost as if they were violating Shabbos. It then becomes
difficult if not impossible for such a person to feel comfortable living in
such a community. The more of secular culture they pursue, the more ostracized
they will feel. It should therefore not be surprising that they come to
feel their only option is to become entirely secular.

Being raised in such an insular environment makes them ill
prepared to enter the secular one.
Imagine for example trying to get a college education with no high
school diploma and the bare minimum education that comes with. That’s where Footsteps
comes in. They help them achieve that goal.

Granted - in some cases there is more than a desire for a
little freedom that causes someone to go OTD. There may be intellectual reasons
that turn them into skeptics and non believers. I’m not sure anyone can do much
for them. Although I would not entirely abandon the hope that they return to observance, it is a difficult task for anyone to convince them to do that.

But I am 100% convinced that a lot of Jews raised in these
kinds of extreme environments would remain observant if they could find a
way to engage in the world that was once forbidden to them. That’s where Modern
Orthodoxy comes in. I have always felt that these formerly extreme Jews looking
for relief could find it there.

But they don’t. That’s because the two cultures are so
radically different from each other that they cannot adjust. Nor are those communities
all that welcoming to those who are so culturally different from them, I’m told.
So… they go all the way. And I found it
a shame that they could not adjust. What was missing, I thought, was an
organization like Footsteps that would not only help them adjust to their new
lives outside their former world and yet show them that they can still maintain
Halacha.

Thankfully there are others who felt the same way. And they
have done something about it. There is a new organization called Makom that
does exactly that. It was founded by one of my heroes, Allison Josephs. From
the Forward:

It took Josephs two years of organizing and fundraising… to
provide an answer to this question: Curious ultra-Orthodox Jews can now receive
an orientation to the Modern Orthodox world via Josephs’s latest endeavor,
Project Makom. It was officially launched this past December… and soon it will
offer classes on a variety of topics, along with religious mentorship, career
training, and support groups for those struggling with the transition between
ultra and Modern Orthodox worlds.

Josephs and her co-directors, Schaper and Gavriella Lerner,
a social work student and teacher, respectively, are currently planning their
first official shabbaton, or retreat, where they will offer lectures on, among
other things, women in Jewish scholarship and minhag, custom, versus Halacha,
law, in mid-April in the New York tristate area...

(B)y establishing Makom —
which means “place” in Hebrew — she can show those formerly constrained by
religion how to access the strength and liberation she finds in it. “Faith
should be there as a thing to lean on, not something to hold you back and to
make you feel trapped,” she said.

As can be expected there are skeptics about this project -
Footsteps executive director, Lani Santo among them. She questions the need –
pointing to Chabad as a place where ultra Orthodox can go to lighten their
load. But that shows a fundamental misunderstanding about both Chabad and what they
do. Although not an insular movement - quite the opposite in fact - many of the
restrictions these people want to free themselves from are a part of parcel of Chabad.
And Chabad’s stated mission is not to lighten the load of formerly ultra
Orthodox Jews. It is to bring secular Jews closer to observant Judaism and ultimately to Chabad. Something
with which they are very successful.

Santo says that she finds most of Footsteps clients choosing
to leave observance altogether. That may be true. But I have to wonder, given the
opportunity to live a religious lifestyle that is not restrictive, how many wouldn’t
prefer that? Wouldn’t remaining observant prevent the loneliness that often accompanies
leaving observance completely?

That’s where ‘Makom’ comes in. As I understand them, it is not their goal to get these formerly
ultra-Orthodox Jews to move into the Modern Orthodox community of Teaneck. It
is their goal is to teach them that they can live their lives religiously by
adopting the values of Modern Orthodoxy no matter where they live.

It is my sincere hope that those looking to leave their
insular lives and participate in the culture are made aware of the fact that
they do not have to leave observance to do so. In Modern Orthodoxy, you can
actually have the best of both worlds.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.